New Corporation to Administer Condominium Projects

February 13, 2017 - A new draft is being prepared by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, which would combine the construction and administration of 20/80 and 40/60 condos under the roof of a single corporation, according to Capital.

Currently 40/60 condos are being constructed by the Addis Ababa Savings & Houses Development Enterprise (AASHDE) and the Addis Ababa Housing Project Office (AAHPO) is in charge of constructing 20/80 houses.

The new corporation would be responsible for hiring managers of every site, and planning the construction of new homes.

The Addis Ababa City Administration Housing Management Agency, responsible for delivering finished homes to the beneficiaries will also be part of the new corporation.

A recent study indicated that construction was sluggish and that many of the projects were subject to corruption.

Capital reported recently that no audit had been conducted so far on steel bar, cement, and sand procurement in the 20/80 condos. There have been no projects slated for this year due to budget constraints.

A source from Addis Ababa city Administration told Capital that the new corporation is expected to be established in one year. Turnover is expected as Addis Ababa City Administration appointees will soon leave their management positions.

The new corporation will be led by professionals with relevant education to work on all the tasks involved in the construction process. Political appointees will handle regulatory jobs to ensure the projects are being completed in a timely manner.

“The big problem in condo construction is that some political appointees do not have much knowledge about engineering and significant numbers of people involved do not have the correct educational background but the new corporation will curb this problem and put the right person in the right place, ” the source said.

Currently, 38,790 40/60 condos and 130,000 20/80 condominium units are under construction on different sites. However, due to poor capacity of contractors and consultants, and inadequate government supervision, most of the projects are behind schedule. Only 1,292 housing units are now nearing completion despite the fact that 164,000 people are registered for this scheme.

In the past 25 years the Addis Ababa city administration delivered 130,000 houses for beneficiaries but now close to a million people are on the waiting list for condo houses and have placed more than 10 billion birr into the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia for the program. (Capital)